Addicts given £14,000 of heroin a year on the NHS

<p>Drug addicts are being prescribed heroin across London, with doctors able to issue it in exceptional cases if they get Home Office approval.<br /><br />Diamorphine - pure heroin - has been given to addicts in a third of London boroughs over the past three years. They take it under medical supervision several times a day.<br /><br />The annual NHS bill per addict is put at £14,000. Supporters of prescribed heroin say this is dwarfed by the cost of crime users might otherwise commit to fund their addiction.<br /><br />Experts estimate an addict spends £45,000 a year on average on street heroin.<br /><br />However, former Tory frontbencher Ann Widdecombe said: "You are not tackling the root cause of their problems.<br /><br />You remove the danger of dirty needles, but not the addiction." Dr Adrian Rogers, a retired GP, said: "The only thing you should offer is detoxification. Drugs prevention has grown into a massive industry costing the taxpayer huge amounts."<br /><br />Brent Shared Care Prescribing Team - which treats addicts in Brent, Westminster, Hammersmith, Barnet, Kensington and Chelsea, Ealing, Harrow, Camden and Islington - prescribed 466 addicts with methadone, routinely used to treat heroin addicts, in the past three years.<br /><br />Six were discharged drug-free, a success rate of 1.2 per cent. In the same period, 48 people were issued with heroin and six kicked the habit - a 12.5 per cent success rate.<br /><br />Martin Barnes, chief executive of the charity DrugScope, said: "It can stabilise someone's drug use, achieve positive health outcomes and reduce crime. It can put someone on the path to becoming drug-free."</p><p> </p>

Addicts given £14,000 of heroin a year on the NHS

Drug addicts are being prescribed heroin across London, with doctors able to issue it in exceptional cases if they get Home Office approval....

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